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FAQ for Pd
View entire FAQ in full Up to Table of ContentsProblems and Fixes
On GNU/Linux, the fonts are strange and/or too big or small
Watch out for old versions of Tcl/Tk (8.4 or older)
Tcl/Tk 8.4 and earlier tried to a lot of guessing about the fonts, and often got things wrong. Use Tcl/Tk 8.5 or newer with Pd and the fonts will work much better.
If you are running a Debian-based GNU/Linux (Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Knoppix, etc), try making sure that your wish shell is 8.5 or newer:
sudo apt-get install tk8.5
sudo update-alternatives --config wish
Rebuild the Font Database
This is because Pd cannot find the correct font. First, you need to make sure that you have the right font-handling packages installed, ttf-dejavu and x-ttcidfont-conf. You can check those in Synaptic
If they were already installed, then try reinstalling them, using this command in the Terminal:
sudo apt-get install --reinstall x-ttcidfont-conf ttf-dejavu
Specify a Font
One can also try to use the -font-face startup option. You can search for fonts with the "fc-match" command like:
$ fc-match mono
The best known fonts for Pd on GNU/Linux are "Courier 10 Pitch", "DejaVu Sans Mono", "Bitstream Vera Sans Mono", "Droid Sans Mono", and "Andale Mono".
$ pd -font-face "Andale Mono"
How do I report a bug?
All bugs should be reported to the pure-data bug tracker on SourceForge. When making a report, you should first search through the existing reports to make sure that it hasn't been reported already. If there is an existing report, please add your information to that report.
Here are the various ways to find the bug tracker:
- direct link to the SourceForge bug tracker
- If you are using Pd-extended, you can use the report bug menu item in the Help menu.
- redirect url: http://puredata.info/dev/bugtracker
Here is some of the information that should include in your report:
- exact operating system and version (e.g. Debian/stable, Ubuntu Hardy, Windows XP SP2, Mac OS X 10.4.11)
- exact version of Pd where the bug is occuring (e.g. Pd-vanilla 0.41-4, Pd-extended 0.40.3-extended-20080703)
- other versions of Pd where the bug was tested
- other operating systems where the bug was tested
- if there was a crash, include the crash log
When I upgraded to Pd-extended 0.40.3, it stopped loading all of the libraries.
If you upgraded to Pd-extended 0.40.3, and you get a lot of messages like this in your Pd window: :
cyclone: can't load library zexy: can't load library cxc: can't load library ext13: can't load library
Then, you need to update your preferences. The default preferences are now embedded in the app, so you can just delete your own preferences file and Pd-extended will use the embedded preferences. You can find out where the preference file is on your Operating System by checking the pdsettings FAQ entry
If you want to keep your preferences file, then you need to add libdir as the first library loaded.
How do I fix this error: "Library not loaded: /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.6.dylib"?
Library not loaded: /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.6.dylib
If you get this error in the Pd window when starting Gem, PDP, or Pd-extended, then that means that you are missing X11. (This happens almost exclusively on Mac OS X since GNU/Linux almost always includes it by default.)
To fix this, install X11: How do I install Pd on MacOS X?
Pd does not launch.
On OS X the icon in bouncing in the Dock but then stops and Pure Data is not starting.
If Pure Data is not launching on your computer, then check if your /private/etc/hosts file is configured correctly.
You may get the message ERROR: failed to allocate port, exiting! in the console.
The default under OS X looks like this:
##
# Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting. Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1 localhost
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1 localhost
fe80::1%lo0 localhost
if localhost is missing in yours then Pd can't start. It will hang and quit on startup.
Read about the hosts file on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_%28file%29
How do I get an acceptable performance and latency on the MS Windows platform?
I've Installed Pure Data (or Pd-extended) on Windows and I have to set the buffer (delay) to more than 100ms to avoid audio drop outs (crackling). What can I do to achieve a proper latency in Pd on Microsoft Windows?
Make sure your Windows system is set up for Audio. Make sure the overall system performance is OK, install updated ASIO drivers for your soundcard or the "ASIO4All Drivers":http://www.asio4all.com/ when no ASIO is available from the manufacturer. There is also an "ASIO driver for WDM kernel-streaming compliant soundcards":http://www.asio2ks.de/
Read Native Instrument's "Windows 7 Tuning Tips for Audio Processing":http://www.native-instruments.com/knowledge/questions/847/Windows+7+Tuning+Tips+for+Audio+Processing
Also read RME's "Tuning Tips for Low Latency Operation":http://www.rme-audio.de/english/techinfo/lola.htm ( slightly older)
USB and persitency
If you have the problem that you can only plug in your external sound card to one specific USB port you might want to make the COM port assignment of the system permanent to this device. Here is How: goto control panel -> device manager -> com ports -> properties -> port settings -> advanced -> comport number there you can permanently set the comport number for that device.
Why doesn't audio work when I start Pd in -nogui mode?
When I start Pd from the commandline without the GUI in -nogui mode, it can't connect to the soundcard and no dsp seems to happen?
[loadbang] | [; pd dsp 1(Pd tries to start dsp, but in -nogui mode, it hasn't yet connected to the sound card and you'll get an error similar to this:
snd_pcm_open (input): Device or resource busy snd_pcm_open (output): Device or resource busyIf so, you can add a delay before starting the dsp:
[loadbang] | [delay 100] | [; pd dsp 1(This should be enough time to mimic the delay taken when the GUI starts and the sound card can be setup before dsp is started.
